Resources

ReadyContacts on LinkedIn

  • Articles

    • Case Study:: One-Two Campaign Punch Grows Email & Mobile Lists: Segmentation Delivers 40% Lift in CTR
      Marketing: Case Studies & Know-How from MarketingSherpa | Nov 24, 2009
      Improved list quality and list growth can sometimes seem like competing endeavors for emailers. See how one sports eretailer set out to clean up their list and discovered how to add thousands of names along the way. This process also birthed a mobile marketing program. And they did it with just two emails that provided a 40% lift in clickthrough rate.
    • Update of My Free Social Media Ebook
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 24, 2009
      Update of My Free Social Media EbookThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Update of My Free Social Media EbookThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Social media and online marketing tools and tactics are an evolving lot. What was true last month may have a new twist this month. With that in mind I am happy to report that I’ve once again teamed up with the Microsoft Office Live Small [...]
    • Marketing Podcast with Biznik
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 24, 2009
      Marketing Podcast with BiznikThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with BiznikThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Dan McComb (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunes I’ve been running with a consistent theme of late that the best use of social media platforms comes from blending online and offline tactics. My guest for this [...]
    • Who to Blame When CRM Fails
      CRM Mastery Blog | Nov 24, 2009
      Here are several excerpts from an article by Jim King, VP of Operations at Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, Who to Blame When CRM Fails.  Check out the complete source article for a more comprehensive discussion of each of the key learnings mentioned below: Companies considering CRM systems often view them as a way to improve [...]
    • Mack Collier: Get Over It; We're All Content Channels Now
      Marketing Profs Daily Fix | Nov 24, 2009
      If you go to Robert Scoble's blog, to the right you'll see a widget he has added that streams tweets from people on his Twitter lists. And in a round-about way, this is one of the reasons why I am spending less time on Twitter these days.As many people do, I use Twitter primarily as a tool to connect with other people. Now for the most part, I'd always had some so-called unwritten rules about my Twitter usage. The main one was that time spent on Twitter during 'business hours' was mainly for business usage, while time spent 'after hours', or on the weekend, I would give myself leeway to use Twitter more as a chat facilitator to talk about pretty much whatever I wanted. But I noticed that clients and companies that contacted me about work would, on occasion, reference my tweets made during my 'personal' time. Nothing shocking, it might be someone saying they didn't realize I was a Bama fan, or that they also liked Flash Forward, but it made me realize that the people that are following the content I create on Twitter, and on any social site, don't understand my unwritten rules. They are basically approaching the content I create (and the content we all create), as a channel. And I think this is an important point for us to remember. I'm constantly having people that work in this space ask me who they should be following. If I tell them to follow Jason, and Jason has one INCREDIBLY profound business tweet once every 2 weeks, my friends might not stick with Jason's tweets, and might begin to question my judgment in recommending them. Yes, the very name 'social media' implies that interaction is going to take place. But we have to remember that so many people simply want to consume content, not interact with it. To these people, they look at us as being content channels, and nothing more. Am I saying that we should change how we use social media in order to placate others? Absolutely not, but I am saying that I do think we should be aware of the content we are creating, and how it is being received, and by who. If you're primarily using your blog as a tool to get more sales, but also like a good political rant every once in a while, you have to consider that your potential customer might not like your rant about how much their political party of choice is dead wrong. So for now, I am using Twitter more for business, and less overall. How are you using Twitter and other sites? Is one for business, the other for personal, or do you mix the two? How do you manage different sites being used in different ways?
    • Paul Barsch: Of Risk Control and Thanksgiving Turkeys
      Marketing Profs Daily Fix | Nov 24, 2009
      To forecast the future, marketing leaders often look to the past. But the past isn’t always a very reliable gauge of future conditions. For proof, we need to look back to a day-in-the-life of a turkey, and implications of not preparing for possible “extreme” events around the corner.First, let’s start with a fun exercise courtesy of Wilmott Magazine. Let’s look at damage estimates of earthquakes in California from 1970 to 1993 in the table below. Can you make an educated calculation of losses due to earthquakes in 1994? Taking a look at the distribution of data, notice the low end is “0” and at high end, the most damage caused was “129”. So what’s your guess? If you’re like me, you probably guessed wrong. Using the above numbers as an “anchor”, most people would reasonably assume that 1994’s earthquake was either an average of the above numbers or perhaps a bit higher than 129. Maybe you even threw out “129” as an outlier in the dataset. To be honest, I guessed around “200”. The correct answer is “2217.2”! FEMA estimates that every year earthquake losses in the United States add up to $4.4 billion a year. But then, some extreme outliers can really skew that number, especially years like 1994 where just the Northridge Earthquake in California alone tallied $20B in damage! Let’s get back to talking turkeys via a parable from Nassim Taleb, author of the “Black Swan”. Dr. Taleb reminds us that fat, dumb and happy is probably the best way to describe the life of a turkey. They’re fed and nurtured for three years straight. Day after day, they expect the same thing. But then, one fateful day arrives and the “life” of a turkey ends quite abruptly. Can we accurately predict the future based on reviewing and analyzing historical data? Sometimes, but we have to make assumptions of similar conditions, a normal distribution, and event independence. Complex systems will have none of these characteristics. Dr. Taleb says as much; “Real life isn’t a casino.” Indeed, the parable of the turkey and the earthquake loss estimation exercise show us that predicting the future in complex systems can be a futile exercise because there are so many unknowns, changing conditions, and inter-connecting relationships. Extreme events that carry a huge impact happen, and some would argue they’re happening a whole lot more often as interlocking financial markets and globalization become commonplace. Should prediction exercises be avoided? Nassim Taleb would argue otherwise; “We need to start thinking of the inconceivable,” he says. And while we cannot determine the exact probability of tomorrow’s events, we can “get a general idea about the possibility of their occurrence.” And that’s where scenario planning comes into play. Bill Ziemba, author of the aforementioned Wilmott Magazine article says, “Getting all the scenarios and their probabilities right is impossible and doesn’t matter much anyway. What is important is to cover the board of possible occurrences. Then you will make sound decisions with risk under control.” The fact is, like the turkey, we just don’t know what tomorrow will bring. So, plan for the five to seven most likely occurrences and then develop contingencies based on those scenarios. French microbiologist Louis Pasteur says it best, “In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.” For a turkey, today may appear like any other “normal” day. However, tomorrow could be the chopping block. Questions: Nassim Taleb says, “It is only in very rare circumstances that probability (by itself) is a guide to decision making.” Does this mean that historical data analysis isn’t worth the effort? If chance favors the prepared mind, what’s the “next unexpected twist” that marketers should be looking for?
    • Social Selling Beats the Collector Every Time
      Better Closer | Sales Improvement | Nov 23, 2009
      Sales is the life blood of any organization. And the lifeblood of any sales operation is a steady flow of prospects. Unfortunately, this is where sale people start to get confused with what brings success. One approach is to harvest every stray name, phone number, email address, twitter follower, Facebook friend. I call these people collectors. [...]
    • Article:: New Chart: How Merchants Manage the Affiliate Search Marketing Dilemma
      Marketing: Case Studies & Know-How from MarketingSherpa | Nov 23, 2009
      Competition between companies and their affiliates is natural. Affiliates can be very effective at creating revenue-generating traffic through search so there's an inherent tension in the system. See the main attitudes/policies with which merchants attempt to deal with this issue.
    • Case Study:: Build Brand through Online Forums: Giveaway Offer Receives 83% CTR
      Marketing: Case Studies & Know-How from MarketingSherpa | Nov 23, 2009
      Targeting online forums is great way to build brand awareness and buzz for your products. And the strategy doesn't always require the heavy lifting of actively managing conversations and posts. See how a tire manufacturer helped build consumer demand by promoting a giveaway offer across several online forums. Clickthrough rates to the landing pages were as high as 83%, and sales began climbing steadily following the campaign.
    • Are You Willing to Give What it Takes ...
      Jill Konrath - Selling to Big Companies | Nov 23, 2009
      With our crazy-busy lives and insatiable drive to acquire "more," many of us fail to appreciate just how good we have it. On Thursday, when we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, our plates will be overflowing with turkey, stuffing, gravy, and all sorts goodies We'll eat till we're too full, and then have dessert. ... All of which is stark contrast...
    • Stop Wasting Your Time With Social Media
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 23, 2009
      Stop Wasting Your Time With Social MediaThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Stop Wasting Your Time With Social MediaThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing If you have no precise marketing strategy, or even a simple set of marketing goals, social media participation will only serve as a glorious way to highlight that your business is precisely like every other business that says they do what you do. (That’s [...]
    • Social Selling Beats the Collector Every Time
      Better Closer | Sales Improvement | Nov 23, 2009
      Sales is the life blood of any organization. And the lifeblood of any sales operation is a steady flow of prospects. Unfortunately, this is where sale people start to get confused with what brings success. One approach is to harvest every stray name, phone number, email address, twitter follower, Facebook friend. I call these people collectors. [...]
    • Don't play chicken with your pricing
      The Marketing Minute | Nov 23, 2009
      Remember the old game? You'd aim your bike or your car at another bike or car and barrel towards each other. Whoever swerved before the collision was "the chicken." Lots of businesses play the same game with their pricing. They lock on with a prospect and offer up their price. The prospect says something to the effect of...."we really want to buy it, but that's a little expensive. What can we do about the price?" The metaphorical headlights are in your eyes. You want the sale. You know you can...
    • Galen De Young: Blogging: What are You Talking About? It Might Surprise You.
      Marketing Profs Daily Fix | Nov 23, 2009
      The other day I ran across a neat tool that generates a word cloud for a blog. This is different than a tag cloud. A tag cloud is a cloud of words based on how you’ve tagged your blog posts. As such, you obviously influence the cloud based on how you tag your posts. The word cloud, however, looks at the text of your blog posts. The image above is a word cloud. When I looked the word cloud for our b2b marketing blog, I thought it reflected our subject matter and the intent of our posts. We focus strictly on B2B. We specialize in the development of B2B content marketing assets as a primary way to convey and support key messages and establish thought leadership in a client’s given niche. We help B2B clients effectively use social media, search engine optimization, and email marketing to promote these content marketing assets, and generate and nurture leads until they are sales ready. Okay. Given what we focus on, we’re doing pretty well, I said. Some of the related key words really stand out in the word cloud—like B2B, content, and marketing. Some of the content vehicles have visual prominence, like blogs, email, newsletters, site, and article. And the word “lead” pops out a bit. But there were some words that were far less prominent or even absent, like optimize, search, SEO, social, and thought leadership. I was a bit puzzled by that. Those are things I thought we were definitely talking about and focusing on. When I went back to recent posts, I found that in some cases we cover these issues in posts, but we don’t actually end up using the words as prevalently as I thought. In other cases, it had been a while since we posted about certain issues and topics. Finally, I found that all of our posts and articles tend to run together in my mind; while I’ve written several articles recently on blogging and thought leadership, the ones discussing thought leadership were articles published elsewhere, not on our blog. This has implications for both visitors and search engines. For visitors, we may be talking about and around the issues, but unless we’re clearly using the words that resonate with visitors, they might not connect the dots (issues, implications, concepts) in the same way we do. The key words we use give readers context within which to evaluate or consider the subject matter. Make sure you’re using familiar words that give your readers context of the issues. These words serve as touchpoints and help position your content. Secondly, it’s smart to do an audit of your blog posts. What is the subject-matter allocation of your blog content, and how recent are the posts in each category? Don’t just look at the category or tag of the posts, but remember to look at the copy of each post. Doing an audit will also help you sort out what you published on your blog and what content was published elsewhere. Finally, while there are many factors that influence how well a blog post is optimized for search, the copy you use in the post an important factor. Make sure your posts are sufficiently keyword rich. This doesn’t mean you should be keyword spamming. However, you should make sure you’re actually sufficiently using the keywords for which you want to be found. As a test, I created word clouds for a couple of blogs I follow. Some were spot on, totally aligned with my impressions of the blog’s focus. Other word clouds left me guessing as to the intent and the content of the blog. If you simply showed me the word cloud, I could not have told you with certainty what the blog was about. I know the word cloud is a far stretch from a complete analysis of a blog or its content. It’s simply a fun tool. But it gives you some insights into how others might view your content and your focus. Just one note: If you try to generate a word cloud from a blog feed that shows only the introductions to posts, you'll obviously get different results than if you point it at a full feed. So what about your blog? What does your word cloud look like? Is it aligned with what you think you’re talking about? If you’re curious, you can go to Wordle to find out. Let me know what you think. Did your word cloud align with your mental image of your blog?
    • Weekend Favs November Twenty-two
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 22, 2009
      Weekend Favs November Twenty-twoThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Weekend Favs November Twenty-twoThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing I’ve added a weekend post routine that I hope you enjoy. Each weekend I write a post that features 3-4 things I read during the week that I found interesting. Generally speaking it won’t involve much analysis and may range widely in topic. (Flickr image included here [...]
    • Face Your Fears: Why visitors really bounce from your site, part 1
      MarketingExperiments Blog: Research-driven optimization, testing, and marketing ideas | Nov 20, 2009
      Bounce rates keeping you up at night? We cast aside the misleading data that’s giving you unneeded fear from the essential information you need to optimize your site...
    • QuickBooks 2010 Expends Beyond Accounting
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 20, 2009
      QuickBooks 2010 Expends Beyond AccountingThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing QuickBooks 2010 Expends Beyond AccountingThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing The latest version of QuickBooks is a big step outside the box for the leading small business accounting software. Building on Intuit’s Connected Services Strategy announced last year, QuickBooks connects to several new online services that enable small businesses to extend the power of their information already [...]
    • Paul Williams: Three Ps For Better Leading: Pace, Process, Pulse
      Marketing Profs Daily Fix | Nov 20, 2009
      One of the characteristics of a great leader—no matter whether that leader is a person, a brand, or a company - is the ability to stay "tuned-in" to the needs of their audience. Are they still "with" you? Do they get where you're going? Do they have confidence in the direction?
      Out of college, my first job was at Walt Disney World in Orlando. I was a tour guide at the "Listen To The Land" boat ride in Epcot's Land Pavilion. I led Guests on a 20-minute journey through farming methods of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It was one of the easiest "leading" jobs I've ever had. I didn't have to worry about the pace, the process, or the "pulse" of the Guests on my boat. Disney already figured that out. The boats moved along a track at a pre-chosen speed, through carefully crafted scenes. I simply had to re-recite my 20-minute spiel "with a smile in my voice" in pace with the different show scenes. Unfortunately, most audiences are not as captive. As leaders, we need to constantly check-up on our followers. While you push forward, you also have to look back. The mountain guide a mile ahead and out of view of his pack, is worthless. A meeting lead sticking to the agenda with a confused team, has stopped adding value.

      Pace, Process & Pulse

      To avoid losing your audience, regularly check your pace, the process, and the pulse. Pace Are we going to fast? Is the group feeling rushed? Can they keep up? Or are we dragging, too slow? Are you losing their interest through boredom? Process Are you taking them along an appropriate path? Are they in shape for a rocky climb, or do you need to take the paved path? Are we using the right tools? Pulse How are they feeling? Have they tuned out? They may be keeping up with pace and process, but may be frustrated. A responsible guide checks on her group. She asks questions to ensure folks are still confidently following. She makes necessary adjustments, being mindful of the end point. Remembering "Pace, Process, and Pulse" in your box of leadership tools can help you shift from good to great. This article was inspired by a chapter in Ingrid Bens' book Advanced Facilitation Strategies.
      The Land Boat Ride

For people who have been on the boat ride (at least in the early 90s)... the three things they remember are...
        hydroponic gardening (plants grown without soil), the 1-piece babyblue polyester overalls (i.e. farmer of the future) costume, and the theme song: "Let's Listen to the Land." (It is the 2nd most haunting song after "It's a Small World" and sticks in your brain - forever).
    • Do you know a Sales Superstar? Are you one?
      Jill Konrath - Selling to Big Companies | Nov 20, 2009
      Top performing sellers who deliver results in today's crazy market deserve to be recognized. That's why AllBusiness and Top Sales Experts are honoring a top salesperson each month. Monthly winners will: Be recognized by their peers for their outstanding contributions. Be profiled in an article for AllBusiness and its sister site, Hoover's. Receive free 12-month VIP membership at Top Sales...
    • Who Are the 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead?
      Jill Konrath - Selling to Big Companies | Nov 19, 2009
      The votes have now been tabulated and the results are now in! The Sales Lead Management Association just posted their list of the top 50 most influential people in lead management in 2009. I'm honored to be included in the Top 10 on this list, along with so many talented people whose work I highly respect. And, I want to...
    • A creativity whack for your head...and your iPhone!
      The Marketing Minute | Nov 19, 2009
      Roger von Oech is responsible for whacking me upside the head more times than I can count. 20+ years ago, he created a fantastic creativity tool called A Creative Whack Pack. It's an illustrated deck of 64 creative thinking strategies that will whack you out of habitual thought patterns and enable you to look at your life and actions in a fresh way. It's an awesome way to think different, to see something fresh and to get yourself unstuck. Well, it's 2009 and so of course Roger has created an...
    • Stephanie Miller: Are Email Preference Centers Worth It?
      Marketing Profs Daily Fix | Nov 19, 2009
      Add global compliance and cultural custom to the list of why email preference centers are really hard to sell internally and build well. I had a meeting this morning where we started to list out all the different country and local laws governing choices across various brand service agreements, and it quickly became overwhelming. It was no help that the database guy kept saying, "That'll cost you more."No wonder the director of marketing looked at me and said, "Is this really the best way to spend our precious time, energy and IT resources?!" So many email marketers say that they know a preference center will enable more choices and value for subscribers—particularly as we build relationships across a matrix of brands, social networks and email message types. Do moms want to be alerted via email to community discussions on Facebook? Do business users want LinkedIn weekly news headlines but prefer event invites via email? Are Australians particularly sensitive to "service" messages in the guise of marketing? We'd all like to give our customers and prospects those choices. Does it have to be that hard to build such a self selection tool that will actually work? We are already fighting hard to get a preference center on the planning table. Management wants us to keep the list large and growing, and to send more messages rather than fewer. There are penalties to not offering preferences, usually too high frequency with low relevance. These strategies (or lack of strategy) will quickly depress inbox placement due to higher complaints (clicks on the Report Spam button at Gmail, Yahoo! or in Outlook). An untargeted approach also churns the file, reduces response rates and lowers lifetime value. Those penalties are real, but the pressure is also real to accept the long term hit for a short term gain. Selling a preference center internally often fails because fundamentally, most companies don't want to give up control. We want to keep our marketing options wide open. If we respect subscriber preferences, we may not be able to e-mail anything we want at any time. Yikes. It's hard to compete with that sort of thinking, especially if the IT team is telling management that building a preference center is costly and time consuming. There are soft costs to every marketing decision—and particularly when it comes to subscriber-centric ones like lowering frequency to increase relevancy, removing inactive/non responsive addresses from the file—and building a preference center where subscribers can choose their own message types and frequency. Advocating for these things can quickly make the email marketing person very unpopular. That's no fun, even if you know you are representing a good cause: The interests of your customers. The ways that I've been successful advocating preference centers and improving relevancy by sending fewer messages with higher relevancy always couples the hard costs, real rewards, lost opportunity value, and the impact of those longer term "soft costs."
        Revenue—now and later. Sending information that subscribers want, even if it's less frequent, will earn higher response now, and improve the chances that subscribers will continue to engage and respond in the future. Prove your revenue opportunity by measuring for the same set of subscribers, the difference in response rates between messages that have explicit permission (information specifically requested by this subscriber) and messages with assumed permission (everything else). That lift can range between 2% and 200%, and is generally what you can expect to earn in overall revenue by targeting all your e-mail marketing by preference. Cost. Over mailing or sending irrelevant and untargeted e-mail messages has a cost – both in opportunity and real dollars. Subscribers who do not find value will complain (clicking the Report Spam button) which depresses inbox placement for all your messages. If you don't reach the inbox, you can't earn a response. There is also a small but real cost and wasted marketing resource (pennies per message) to sending e-mail that no one is interested in reading. Data. Subscribers tell you about their interests and needs when they visit the preference center. Use that data to guide social and other digital content and improve the depth of connection with prospects and customers. Persona. Customers are not all created equally, and nor do they have static needs. All great B2B marketing operates dynamically within the sales lifecycle. Preference center data identifies subscribers who are moving in the cycle or have new needs (e.g.: changing content selections) or are feeling neglected (e.g.: lowering the frequency). Use that data to guide segmentation and targeting, and sales team outreach. Investment pays off. If you build it, they may not come. A preference center has to be marketed in order to provide value. Be sure to celebrate your preference center in the welcome message, on the unsubscribe page, in your website navigation, via Twitter, in your footer and with dedicated e-mail messages. Like any other feature of your website, a preference center must have real value or it won't be used.
      How have you made the case for your preference center? Also, if you are technical, what sort of ideas can you offer to help us design tools that are easier to build and simpler to keep current? Love to hear thoughts on this, thanks!
    • Web Clinic Extra: Surprising Wins from 2009
      MarketingExperiments Blog: Research-driven optimization, testing, and marketing ideas | Nov 18, 2009
      For answers to questions from your peers that we did not have time to address on our live web clinic, listen to Web Clinic Extra…
    • What the Heck is Integrated Marketing Anyway?
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 18, 2009
      What the Heck is Integrated Marketing Anyway?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing What the Heck is Integrated Marketing Anyway?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing When I first started my business, several decades ago, I was determined to tell people that, mine was an integrated marketing firm. To which, I generally received polite nods and the occasional more truthful – “What the heck is integrated marketing anyway?” Well, c’mon I [...]
    • Ann Handley: Innovation Matters: Balancing Sustained Versus Disruptive Innovation
      Marketing Profs Daily Fix | Nov 18, 2009
      This is a guest post by Eric Zeitoun, president of Dragon Rouge USA, a leading independent brand and design consultancy. While we struggle to emerge from a full-blown recession, marketers know all too well that advertising and (unfortunately) innovation are the first budgets that are most likely to get cut. So how can marketers continue to innovate?Before we answer this question we need to go back to the definition of innovation since it has become a very popular and often misinterpreted topic. There are four distinct types of innovations:
        Product optimization (which seeks to optimize a product or service’s usage) Brand extension (stretches a brand’s equity into adjacent spaces) Target ownership (to own a greater share of a specific target’s wallet across multiple segments, whether the segment is attitudinal, psychographic or demographic) Category leadership (to sustain or achieve leadership by re-shaping consumer attitudes and behaviors in a given segment or industry).
      Innovation types 1. and 2. (referred to as “sustained innovations”) usually tend to build off of an existing frame of reference. Therefore, although safer, they are likely to only generate limited incremental value. Innovation types 3. and 4. (referred to as “disruptive innovations”) on the other hand can yield much larger growth, but they are also more capital intensive and more unpredictable. Indeed because they have the power to shift the paradigm, they can set new standards and change consumer behaviors, but they require significant time and dollar investments. The easy conclusion could be to argue that in a period of recession, marketers should focus on “sustained innovation” because senior management is more likely to sign off on an inexpensive innovation initiative, which can repay for itself in the short term. Unfortunately, what could sound like a really good idea may turn out to be a really dangerous one. Recessions usually act in a two-step process as filters or regulators that purge weaker players from the marketplace. The structurally weak players are typically the first to go. These are the companies whose business model is fundamentally flawed or those whose cost structure cannot suffer tighter margins (think about how many airlines go bankrupt in any kind of recession). Then follows the players whose relevance keeps eroding over time. These players tend to suffer more towards the end of a recession cycle, and generally get hit when they think they have reached the end of the tunnel. Why do these companies lose relevance? They do so because of their inability to shape, grasp or influence societal shifts, and a lack of vision or willingness to take risks. Organizations that are not willing to constantly invest in ‘disruptive innovation’ quickly become irrelevant and vulnerable in a recession. So what does this mean in terms of innovation? It means that marketers need to find smarter ways to invest in ‘disruptive innovation,’ rather than simply pull the plug. Recessions should be viewed as an opportunity to re-assess the effectiveness of innovation processes. To do this, you must: Have a clear strategic goal for your innovation. Make sure it fits into your marketing strategy and your business strategy. Create a focused ideation process that accelerates the pace of the consumer’s validation of ideas and prototypes ideas at a lower cost. According to A.G. Lafley, 8 years ago P&G financed between 20 and 40 innovation projects at an average price tag of 5 to 10 million dollars. Today, with the same total innovation budget of $150-200million, P&G manages to finance 10 to 20 more innovation initiatives because they have brought the average project cost down. With a larger sample of prototyped innovation to choose from, they can sustain a continuous flow, which will thus sustain their competitive edge without having to invest more. The bottom line: if you want to leave a recession cycle unscathed, remember that you need to preserve a sound balance between ‘sustained innovation’ and ‘disruptive innovation.’ But, more importantly, take this opportunity to clean up your innovation closet: focus on the most strategic innovations and invest smarter.
    • CMO Challenges in Driving Data into Insights
      Buzz Marketing for Technology | Nov 17, 2009
      A good friend and former colleague of mine Dan Neely, CEO of Networked Insights reminded me recently that there will be more data created in this year than in the previous 5000 years combined! With all this data the question many CMOs wrestle with is – How to manage so much data from so many sources [...] Related posts:
        Making Sense Out of All this Data! Ok I admit it I am a bit of a... Challenges in Everyone in Your Company being Social In the last post called Just 4 People doing Social...
      Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
    • Case Study:: Revamped Recommendations Lift Order Value 15%: 5 Steps to More Relevant Suggestions
      Marketing: Case Studies & Know-How from MarketingSherpa | Nov 17, 2009
      Ecommerce marketers need to optimize their product recommendations strategy. Simply offering suggestions isn't enough to lift order value if those recommendations aren't personalized and relevant for each customer. See how an online wine retailer built increased relevance into their product recommendations by considering users' browsing and buying habits as well as logistical considerations, such as geographic region. Today, 10% of the site's sales come from these recommendations, and the average value of those orders is 15% higher.
    • Case Study:: Video Ebook Revives White Paper: 7 Steps to Repurpose Content and Attract 8x More Readers
      Marketing: Case Studies & Know-How from MarketingSherpa | Nov 17, 2009
      The concept of turning an existing white paper into a video eBook was one of the most intriguing examples of content repurposing mentioned at MarketingSherpa's recent B2B Marketing Summits. Based on positive audience response, we developed a detailed case study about the campaign. See how a networking communications company turned a technical white paper into a multimedia eBook that featured short video interviews with company experts alongside links to a host of related downloads. The eBook attracted eight times as many readers as the original white paper – including hard-to-reach C-level executives.
    • What's your big idea?
      The Innovative Marketer | Nov 17, 2009
      I was having dinner with a super smart marketer a few weeks ago, and I asked him what his big idea was for 2010. And this bright guy articulated a strategy of media dominance, of placing his brand everywhere that...
    • Is Social Media Changing Selling?
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 17, 2009
      Is Social Media Changing Selling?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Is Social Media Changing Selling?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Mike McLaughlin (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunes Social media has certainly changed marketing, but few people are addressing just how dramatically it’s changed sales. In this interview we hit that subject pretty head on. My [...]
    • CMO Challenges in Driving Data into Insights
      Buzz Marketing for Technology | Nov 17, 2009
      A good friend and former colleague of mine Dan Neely, CEO of Networked Insights reminded me recently that there will be more data created in this year than in the previous 5000 years combined!With all this data the question many CMOs wrestle with is – How to manage so much data from so many sources and separate systems to drive insights on how customers behave? With the goal being a seamless and consistent experience as customers and prospects pin pong across a variety of channels.A recent Forrester report called The Intelligent Approach to Customer Intelligence does a good job outlining the challenges of creating data that can truly be used for driving strategic marketing decisions (what they call Strategic Intelligence).But for most B2B marketers like myself – we tend to optimize by the channel of data that we have. For example I get: Social Media reports, Blog data reports, Website data reports, Campaign data reports, Launch result reports, Traditional Media reports, Lead reports and of course Budget reports to name just a few. With all these endless reports no wonder it ‘feels’ like we never can get any true customer insights – since all we can do is look down these channels and get a singular view of customer activity.This doesn’t take into account some of the more forward looking ideas like tracking not just mentions of the brand online but Conversations as well as Facebook Insights reports and coming soon Mobile marketing reports!I agree with the premise of Forrester’s article that we have to start heading toward Enterprise-wide customer data but its not a simple black and white path. And furthermore the path is unique to each company. Since each one of us has a different variety of reports coming a litany of systems like SAS, Aprimo, Webtrends, iCrossing, Radian6, Facebook, Vocus, Wordpress and where it isn’t automated then it’s just Excel.To create data that can truly put you on the path to Strategic Intelligence has to become one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2010. If you have any insights on how best to get there please share them.
    • Elaine Fogel: Cash-for-Grades Fundraiser Just Another Marketing Incentive
      Marketing Profs Daily Fix | Nov 17, 2009
      What's all this outrage for North Carolina school principal, Susie Shepherd, for supporting her parent advisory council's innovative use of marketing incentives? Who are we kidding? I used to teach, so I know how some schools operate like they're in the third world, without proper books and resources. This school was just looking for creative ways to raise much-needed money.In my opinion, the outpouring of disdain is hypocritical. The days of doing well in school for the intrinsic value are waning, as more parents offer reward systems. Read Barbara Coloroso. The kindergarten sticker turns into a car at 16 - IF you get good grades. Sure, it's disappointing, and certainly not the ideal way to raise and educate children, but the real world is comprised of all kinds of incentives - discount coupons, loyalty programs, work bonuses, gifts, prizes... Many nonprofits engage kids in fundraising events by offering prizes. i.e. MS Readathon. Open a box of cereal and get a prize. Collect enough bottle cap liners and win something big. Kids are exposed to this type of promotion every single day as soon as they can understand what it's all about. Are kids immune to being motivated by a few points on a test? Gosh, NO. It'll likely mean increased revenue for the school. Are the extra points going to make a big difference? Likely not. Teachers aren't stupid. This was purely a marketing incentive for a fundraising project. "Shepherd rejected the suggestion that the school is selling grades. Extra points on two tests won't make a difference in a student's final grade, she said." Notice the other incentive prizes that have nothing to do with grades. Rosewood Middle School price list: A $20 donation buys 10-point credits to be used on two tests of the student's choice. A $30 donation buys the test points and admission to a 5th-period dance. A $60 donation buys students test points, the dance invitation, and a "special 30-minute lunch period with pizza, drink and the choice to invite one friend to join them." Photo ops with Rosewood principal Susie Shepherd, the vice principal, and a home room teacher go for $75. The photos will be posted on a school bulletin board and on the school's Web site. Teaching was my first marketing job. Try exciting junior high students for mandatory string instrument classes. Need I say more? If Susie Shepherd is a good principal with a good work history, she should be able to keep her job. What do you say?
    • Article:: New Chart: How Agencies View Client Search Marketing Budgets
      Marketing: Case Studies & Know-How from MarketingSherpa | Nov 16, 2009
      Today, many marketers have been forced to make sacrifices to accommodate smaller budgets. This decrease in elastic budgets has caused many companies to run out of available money when they need it most, reducing their ability to meet consumer demand for their keywords.
    • Case Study:: User-Generated Video Contest: 6 Steps to Promote Brand and Generate New Marketing Content
      Marketing: Case Studies & Know-How from MarketingSherpa | Nov 16, 2009
      This year's marketing mantra has been about doing more with less. See how a marketing team built a content library and generated new leads through a user-generated video contest. The carefully-designed contest called on consumers to create brand-focused videos and recruit peers to vote on a winner. This resulted in hundreds of submitted videos and more than 17,000 registered voters primed for future outreach. Includes 11 creative samples for inspiration.
    • What Are You Doing to Finish 2009 Strong?
      Jill Konrath - Selling to Big Companies | Nov 16, 2009
      Ending your year on a high note is important. Right now, you have less than 30 working days to make that happen. Here are a few tips: Propose new ideas to existing customers. It's always easier to get business from at accounts where you already have a relationship. Focus on how you can help them achieve their objectives, not your...
    • 3 Tools to Make Twitter Lists Even More Useful
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 16, 2009
      3 Tools to Make Twitter Lists Even More UsefulThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing 3 Tools to Make Twitter Lists Even More UsefulThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing I’m a big fan of the newish Twitter List function. I wrote about it last week – 5 Reasons to Use the New Twitter Lists Feature Now that I’ve you pumped up about using lists, I want to talk about a few tools [...]
    • Questions to Ask When Considering Features for an IT Project
      CRM Mastery Blog | Nov 16, 2009
      Here are several excerpts from an article by Phil Simon, Three Questions to Ask When Considering Cutting Features from an IT Project: I am often involved with projects that are running behind schedule and over budget. Such is life of an IT consultant, I suppose. In many instances, projects can recoup valuable time if non-essential [...]
    • Ted Mininni: Taking a Bite Out Of Apple
      Marketing Profs Daily Fix | Nov 16, 2009
      Indications are that Apple--long admired for setting the bar high when it comes to beautifully-designed, innovative, game-changing consumer products--may be facing some stiff competition. According to Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey: “Apple is under threat on the brand front in a way they haven’t been in recent years.”A recent Brandweek article: “Amid Transition, Rivals Are Descending on Apple,” questions whether the company’s competitors are finally launching products that might take a bite out of Apple. Apple’s response doesn’t seem reassuring, either. New ads have gone away from its core message about product strengths to a defensive posture concerning competitors’ products. Okay. No more Apple puns...I promise. The gist: Microsoft ads are spoofing Apple’s Mac spots with tongue-in-cheek take-offs on the “Mac vs PC” campaigns. It seems the nerdy PC might be ready to turn the tables on the hip, contemporary Mac. Microsoft’s new Windows 7, unlike the problem-ridden Vista operating system, is so Mac-like it’s going to be tough—if not downright impossible—to poke fun at it. Some point to Apple’s response via its own ads as “a bit defensive,” as a harbinger of this slowing momentum. “Industry watchers say there’s a sense that the company’s marketing momentum is stalling as it faces tougher new competition,” according to Brandweek. Apple’s current ads depicting our loveable PC nerd praising every version of Windows operating systems over the years obviously points to the deficiencies of past Windows incarnations and seems defensive to some industry analysts. This may be an even bigger headache for Apple: quality perception among consumers is running neck and neck between Apple and Microsoft now, according to Brandindex. Amazingly, it is even suggested that “Microsoft is getting more bang for their (advertising) buck” than Apple is. Even as the Mac vs PC battles continue to rage, a new ad campaign has hit the airwaves for Verizon’s new Droid cell phone, based on Google’s Android operating system. Ads cleverly lampooning iPhone’s “There’s an app for that,” while running the features the Droid offers that are unavailable on the iPhone are getting a lot of attention. It’s too early to tell how the Droid will impact iPhone sales. But it’s about to get very interesting in the cell phone market. Even with increased competitive threats on these fronts, Apple posted a huge fourth quarter that ended on September 26th, beating both its guidance and Wall Street analysts' over-inflated consensus. Sales increases in the fourth quarter of this year versus last year showed healthy increases. Macintosh computer unit sales increased by 17% and iPhone sales by 7%. However, iPod sales fell 8% in the past quarter versus the same quarter one year ago. Of course part of this is due to “cannibalization from the iPhone, but still spells change,” according to IDC senior analyst Danielle Levitas. But you can bet Apple has already moved on; which is not to say the company doesn’t continue to innovate the products it already has. In October, new iMacs With 21.5 and 27-inch displays were unveiled. The MacBook was updated with an LED-backlit display. In early November, it was announced that over 100,000 apps are now available on the App Store. Still, daring new ideas fuel companies with innovative cultures like Apple. They never rest on their successes, and never stop pushing the envelope until they’ve created the next game changer. Currently, Apple fans are all abuzz about a rumored new tablet PC. It’s being touted as the next potential product revolution from one of the world’s hottest brands. This raises some questions for me. And they’re not about launching potentially expensive new consumer products in the midst of an economic downturn, either. Recession or not, consumers always seem to be able to pony up some cash for game changers. Here are my questions, and I’d love to get feedback from HBR readers on these. Please feel free to jump in: Do you think Apple’s innovation-driven culture may stall over time? That they just might run out of ideas? Do you think it matters whether Steve Jobs’ team stays in place or not when it comes to innovation? Do you think it’s just a matter of time before a smaller, hungrier company comes along and outmaneuvers Apple with game changing products? Do you think consumer product companies can be innovative without integrating designers directly into their organizations? If so, how? Do you think if a company like Apple continues to produce quality products but loses the edge on being first to market with game changers they can still be a viable company? If that happened, what would it do to consumer and financial industry perceptions about the Apple brand? I'd love to hear from you.
    • Embrace the Struggle: Complimentary Webcast with Zig Ziglar
      Jill Konrath - Selling to Big Companies | Nov 15, 2009
      When: November 17 from 7-8:15 pm CT Click to Register: http://bit.ly/182WR7 After years of speaking and writing about the value of having a positive attitude and being thankful, Zig Ziglar was challenged to put his own words into practice. Several years ago, his own life changed dramatically after he fell down the stairs in his own home. Today it's a...
    • Winner of the Social Media Library
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 15, 2009
      Winner of the Social Media LibraryThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Winner of the Social Media LibraryThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing In case you missed my post on Friday I offered one signed copy of One these seven books: Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, New Community Rules by Tamar Weinberg, Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel, Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik, [...]
    • You can put a dash of brand just about anywhere
      The Marketing Minute | Nov 15, 2009
      There's nothing less interesting or more standard than a bar code, right? Not according to the people at Design Barcode, where the status quo is anything but! Check out these jazzed up bar codes. (click on the images to see a full-size image in a pop up window) Lest you think this is a new idea, apparently Rick Tharp was doing it (see his version) way back in 1986. (Hat tips to Beverly Koehn and Beth Wampler for sharing this Fast Company article on the bar code designs)
    • Weedend Favs November Fourteen
      Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing | Nov 14, 2009
      Weedend Favs November FourteenThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Weedend Favs November FourteenThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing I’ve added a weekend post routine that I hope you enjoy. Each weekend I write a post that features 3-4 things I read during the week that I found interesting. Generally speaking it won’t involve much analysis and may range widely in topic. (Flickr image included here [...]
    • What to look for in a Social Media Marketer?
      Buzz Marketing for Technology | Nov 13, 2009
      Now that we are beginning to feel the relief of the economic uncertainty that has been hanging around us for the past few months, I am beginning to hear a lot about the invention of some new roles inside organizations looking to get “social media”. Typically this means hire someone who knows our “space” really well [...] Related posts:
        Social Media Expert: How long does it take to become one? So I was reading Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book The Outliers... 5 Tricks to B2B Marketing Socially Whenever I ask members of sales team from around the... Just 4 People doing Social Media? Imagine it is New Years Eve 2011, just 2 short...
      Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
    • Snag Customers By Letting Prospects Go
      Better Closer | Sales Improvement | Nov 13, 2009
      Let me start by saying that if you are trying to land big accounts there is no one better to listen to than Jill Konrath. Jill Konrath, Author of Selling to Big Companies I recently reread Selling to Big Companies (affiliate link) and I am amazed at the contrast between Ms. Konrath and the average sales [...]
    • Everybody talks about measuring social media, but nobody is doing anything about it ... are they?
      The Innovative Marketer | Nov 13, 2009
      I'm at the CMO Club conference in San Francisco this week, and while the audience of 80 texted "Doing more with less" as the number one issue facing marketers in 2010, the real buzz around the show seems to be ROI of social media. Blake Cahill had a post over on VisInsights on the value of social media for B2B companies (he's doing a webcast with Sirius Decisions' Jonathan Block) and one of his lines stopped me:

  • Free trial
    To get started, please fill out the form below and we wil get in touch with you right away.
    • Name:
    • Email address:
    • Company:
    • Phone number:
    • Description:
    •  
    •  
    •  

    SEE WHO IS USING READYCONTACTS
    Sergio Gabrielli,
    VP of Sales
    Emovendo, Inc.
    ReadyContacts was a pleasure to deal with. Our company was looking for a targeted list of with specific job titles in two industries. The end product was exactly what we were looking for and was delivered on time. I found them to be very professional and responsive to my needs. I highly recommend ReadyContacts